What really drives me crazy is how people are still <i>surprised</i> by this kind of thing. I stopped using Facebook four years ago, and I think it was one of the smartest decisions I've made. I value my privacy. There is so much complaining online about how Facebook is taking over everything, yet there is no <i>action</i>. If you have a problem with it, then don't use the service!
Hi,<p>I work at Facebook, more specifically, I've spent a considerable chunk of my time working on our Android app and the Android permissions we request. (I also worked on that same area before I joined Facebook)<p>These permissions were actually added several months ago, long before the WhatsApp deal was announced. There's no connection.<p>I want to correct some of the misrepresentations in the article.<p>The WRITE_CALENDAR permission: As many app developers will know, this permission is needed by any application that wants to create a calendar feed in the unified Android calendar storage, and create/modify events in it. In particular, the Facebook app would like to give you the option to import your Facebook events so that you can see them side-by-side with your other calendars like Google Calendar, corporate Exchange accounts and so on. We don't need to be able to send event invites or updates to attendees by email, but we can't divide the pre-set Android permission into any smaller pieces.<p>We use the READ_SMS permission to automatically read SMS codes from people who have turned on 2-factor authentication (called Login Approvals) for their accounts, or for phone confirmation messages when you add a phone number to your Facebook account. Unfortunately, the Android permissions system doesn't allow us to specify that we would like to be able to read only SMS messages from a specific number—the one we use to send these codes.<p>In general, we would love to be able to ask only for the permissions we need for the specific features we expect people to use. However, Android doesn't allow permission requests on demand; we have to request all permissions that cover each feature at install time, and people must choose to accept or deny all of them at once.<p>If you have specific questions about other permissions that our app requires, don't hesitate to ask, and I'll do my best to explain how they're used. We also have an official Help Center page that covers a lot of this material at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/210676372433246" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/help/210676372433246</a>.
The whole reason why Whatsapp is majorly successful is that it was the exact opposite of what Facebook is. People could download it, and then their address book was integrated. No ads, no mining your information, no signup. It was not successful due to viral marketing or integration with an all knowing social network.
The problem is this doesn't even matter to the average user. They've been so ingrained to just automatically accept these messages (EULA's, "warnings" etc) that they have become meaningless.<p>Even if you do get the odd person that actually cares, the question becomes "do I care enough to stop using this app". The answer is almost certainly no. If you actually cared about your privacy, you probably would have stopped using Facebook half a decade ago.
I want to have the per-permission denial back. I used to be able to deny some permissions while allowing other for an individual app. Here, I could turn off the app's permissions to access SMS messages and control WiFi without disabling its internet access or camera permissions.<p>This would cause some apps would crash, true, but at least I can control that and work with it. It was removed from Cyanogenmod around 7.0.
Didn't we just go over the SMS thing?<p>Jan 2014: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7135219" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7135219</a><p>Feb 2012: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-might-be-reading-your-texts-2012-2" rel="nofollow">http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-might-be-reading-you...</a>
I'm several versions behind on updating my Facebook app, because every update brings a litany of new unnecessary permissions.<p>For a brief period Android offered the ability to selectively disable permissions on apps after the fact, but that feature was removed. I'll probably soon be switching to an alternative ROM that still supports it.
Isn't Facebook correctly assuming that if you use it you're okay with your life being an open book? They've never attempted to hide it and everyone who's uncomfortable with that has moved on, or at least using it very conservatively.<p>So who exactly has a problem with this?
I think Google should improve the way apps can ask access to these things. just telling us whats going to be used is not enough IMO, in fact i see this kind of dialog so many times and just tap through. I should be given option to restrict access after the fact if i see it fit.
What's funny is that they're concerned by the <i>additional</i> permissions Facebook is asking for. Facebook's app already has full access to contact info, which they 'accidentally' used to wipe out everyone's email contacts. I think after that debacle Facebook would have to literally wiretap the mic/camera to actually sink any lower.<p>Personally, I still use Facebook, but I use a dedicated private browsing window on my computer and Tinfoil on my phone: <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danvelazco.fbwrapper" rel="nofollow">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danvelazco...</a>
Bought a Nokia N900 last week and running Debian on it. Once you do a few tweaks to fix the battery life and performance, it's brilliant. How sad is it though, that despite being almost five years old, it's still one of the most open, hackable phones around. Switching from Android to the N900 felt like what switching from Windows to Linux felt like - like I have maximum control over the device, with the freedom to modify anything (relatively) easily.
I think Facebook started adding permission to read texts BEFORE WhatsApp purchase. Or were they preparing before purchase of WhatsApp?<p>Either way, when I first heard about Facebook reading my texts few months ago, I just deleted Facebook app from my android. Keeps me from wasting time reading facebook posts on my phone also...<p>Thanks Facebook for helping me save save time.
Seems Facebook is drawing inward to what they are really good at: letting people communicate. They tried to be everything to everybody and suprise! they alienated and aggravated their users with spam. If Facebook doesn't focus on doing at least one thing well, the bubble will burst.
You don't have to stop using Facebook, just use the HTML version instead of the app. I switched after the email debacle and it's been great, never looked back.
what saddens me is that when facebook was getting popular I thought "oh cool a nerd like me might get laid thanks to a social network".<p>Wrong.<p>I can't remember the year I stopped using it, but I hope it dies, and quick.
I think when I made the decision to stop using Facebook was when I created a new account and realized how empty the actual value proposition was when you were starting fresh.<p>I then realized that people on facebook I actually would've never met or even hang out or even actively talk or like. People that matter are people that have my phone number and skype and can meet me directly.<p>After this epiphany, I deleted my facebook, I no longer saw any value in having a few hundred "friends" on a website that intrinsically offers no value without the underlying participants, whom I valued to be close to zero, as they were not within reach in real life.<p>I found skype offered all the tools I needed. I downloaded whatsapp only to be hit with the same feeling I got from Facebook, these were merely tools acting as social buffering mechanism for digital interaction but SMS already serves this purpose well and voice conversation or meeting in person solves a far better value.<p>Twitter, I'm also thinking of retiring. Instagram? Selfies? Things don't change and that is human relationships, being on any of these platforms is a self fulfilling prophecies.